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Our Resident’s Pot Luck Thanksgiving Cookbook 2013 Hot

Every year it’s the same Thanksgiving resident event. We have a lunch, dinner, or pot luck for the residents, but why not change it up a little this year? Have a pot luck, but resident must bring the recipe with their dish. It can be a turkey, side dish, dessert, or appetizer, and encourage them to share online what they are bringing, so you don’t get 15 different stuffing recipes. Have a panel of anonymous judges, judge the dishes, and announce the winners. As you may know, people love sharing pictures of food, so be ready to share pictures of the winning dishes and their cooks in social media and in your newsletter!

What is beautiful about this event is that it doesn’t end with the event itself! One of the main purposes of the event is to create a cookbook of all entries to be sold for charity. So not only do you get to highlight your residents and their creations, but you also get to support a good cause in the process once the cookbooks area ready to go! You can even suggest a few charities and let your residents vote for the one they want to support.

Before you get too far, however, you want to think ahead about how the cookbook will ultimately look. Having just the winners will probably not be enough, so consider having each section “headlined” by the winner of that category. Keep in mind that since the cookbook will be in print, you need to have higher resolution pictures! So make sure you have a legitimate camera rather than just a camera phone.

Tip #1: What if someone comes without a dish? Consider giving an offer that residents can either bring their own dish OR bring $5-$10 for charity.

Tip #2: As an alternative to anonymous judges, consider having every attendee be a judge! What you need to do is put a number next to each dish and give each person a paper that is numbered. Then you simply tally from each sheet. You can also have a comments section next to each rating, which can be included in the cookbook!

Tip #3: Pictures are a key element to this event, so think ahead about what picture conglomerations you want throughout the night. Here are a few ideas: 1) Pictures of each dish, 2) Pictures of each chef, 3) Pictures of each chef with their dish, 4) group pictures of the winners, 5) group picture of the entire party. The reason you have all the different varieties is that they could be used in different ways, and gives you flexibility to share different pictures on social media versus the cookbook.